The Commission's decision of illegal state aid to Karkkila was reversed

Stock Exchange Release 18.12.2008 at 15.30

The Commission's decision of illegal state aid to Karkkila was reversed 

The Court of First Instance of the European Communities (”CFI”) has today with
its judgement reversed the Commission's decision on 20 October 2005 in which
the Commission stated that the Karkkila city would have assigned unlawful state
aid to Componenta in connection with a share purchase transaction of some EUR
2.4 million. 

CFI states in its judgement that the Commission's decision has been
incompletely argued. The Commission has not presented a clarification which
would show that the land property in the transaction of the city of Karkkila
and Componenta would have been overvalued. The Commission has not either been
able to present acceptable argumentation to its opinion that Componenta would
have received the assigned unlawful state aid from the city of Karkkila. 

The Commission found in its decision in October 2005 that the City of Karkkila
would have assigned unlawful state aid to Componenta Corporation the amount of
EUR 2.4 million in connection with a share purchase transaction in 2003,
whereby the City of Karkkila purchased 50% of the shares in Karkkilan
Keskustakiinteistöt Oy from Componenta Corporation. 

At the time of the transaction Karkkilan Keskustakiinteistöt Oy owned
approximately 730,000 square metre of land in the City of Karkkila and its only
liabilities consisted of two interest-free loans (in total EUR 3.4 million)
from the City of Karkkila and Componenta Corporation in 1996. The market value
of the company's assets was approximately EUR 5 million at the time of the
transaction. However, the Commission arrived in its decision to a conclusion
that neither the shares in Karkkilan Keskustakiinteistöt Oy nor the
interest-free loans from the City of Karkkila and Componenta Corporation would
have had any monetary value at the time of the transaction. The Commission's
decision meant de facto that the value of the company's real estate assets,
730,000 square metre of land, would have been zero, and that Componenta
Corporation would have had to assign its title to these assets to the City of
Karkkila for free in order for the Commission to consider the transaction as
market-based. 

CFI has also requested the Commission to compensate Componenta's legal costs.
The costs are several hundreds of thousands euros. 

Helsinki, 18 December 2008 

COMPONENTA CORPORATION

Heikki Lehtonen
President and CEO


Further information:
Heikki Lehtonen, President and CEO
tel. +358 10 403 00


 
Componenta is a metal sector company with international operations and
production plants located in Finland, Turkey, the Netherlands and Sweden. The
net sales of Componenta were EUR 635 million in 2007. The Group employs about
5,100 people. Componenta's shares are quoted on the NASDAQ OMX Helsinki.
Componenta specializes in supplying cast and machined components and total
solutions made of them to its global customers who are manufacturers of
vehicles, machines and equipment. 
 
Componenta  Corporation 
Panuntie 4, FI-00610 Helsinki , Finland
Tel. +358 10 403 00, Fax +358 10 403 2721
www.componenta.com